Ohm Walsh Micro Talls: who's actually heard 'em?

Coot,

I would qualify that somewhat further and say in a smaller room, with smaller OHMs perhaps, and for certain musical and listening tastes/preferences, OHMs alone + a modest power tube amp alone might fit the bill. The bigger the room, and the more demand for good extended bass, the less chance of a smaller, lower maintenance tube amp cutting it alone I think.

OHM + modest tube amp will certainly work, especially at lower to moderate volume. A lot has to do with personal preferences and situation.

Coot, 100 watts/tube=500 watts/ss, if this were the case, an awful lot of people would have given up on solid state a long time ago. This just isn't so and is another hi-fi myth. I don't think I have ever seen quite this amount of exaggeration though to be honest. Watts are watts into the same load.

At any rate, within the amplifiers capability and not clipping, tube or solid state will work into the Ohms, just depends on how loud you like it and how big the space you have to fill. Many have tried tubes, some stay with one or the other. A matter of flavor at times, others a matter of drive and dynamics. Finding a good match that you like with Ohms is what matters most, your ears, your system. Enjoy them! Tim

Love the new site. But, it look slike black ash veneer is no longer an option. I love my 2000s and center in black. Some day, I want a pair of wall-mounts for the rear-surround channels, and I'd like them to be black as well. Maybe this is a custom order?

Frazeurl: I have long guessed that tube amps sound louder because their distortion products are pleasant. If a SS amp begins to distort, you would either turn it down or off. But the distortion and clipping characteristics of a tube design would not stop most people from listening. Since we hear distortion as loudness, tube amps are said to sound louder given the same rated output before clipping. My $0.02

Thank you guys for your comments. I have no plans to move to tubes, just something I have not seen mentioned wrt amps for Ohms. Really a moot point as I plan on upgrading my 5000s to some form of the powered F with the 15", keeping my original cans.

Coot, a SET would not work for the Ohms. A push-pull of high wattage (such as a McIntosh, would need about 150 wpc for the 5000) tube would be fine. My approach with inefficient speakers is to concentrate on a tube preamp with a powerful SS amp. That way one can play around with tube swapping without busting the bank (preamp tubes are relatively inexpensive), and tubes last much longer with the modest amount of amplification of the preamp. Some of the tubes are cheap, and some cost upwards of $1200/pair, like the Sophia Electric Royal Princess 300B, and with amps you might need to replace the tubes in as little as a couple of years with heavy use.